HR Interview Questions that you should be ready for Interview

31

July

HR Interview Questions that you should be ready for Interview

We often prepare for interviews with the right attire, materials and the right behavior to put up before the interviewers. But we are caught off guard when we are faced by questions that we were not prepared for and our responses of hesitation or of being unsure may downplay our image as a competent candidate. The most difficult questions that we should be ready for are the behavioral interview questions. Executive search firms in Bengaluru usually give tips to candidates that reach out to them, to help ace interviews.

Behavioral interview questions are questions based on your past work experiences. Your responses to them will reveal your skills, abilities, attitudes, and personality. The logic behind such questions is to understand your behavior in the past and predict how you will behave in the future. This portrays your skills as an employee. To answer such questions, it is helpful to provide instances, how you worked around the situation, and the results that came out of it. Here are 10 questions that you should be ready for and how to answer them.

Can you please explain this gap on your resume?

There may be many reasons why there is a gap or gaps in your career path. But a gap or beak in between jobs often give an impression that things didn’t happen for the better. If there was a reason unreacted to your performance at the workplace, give a brief but concise explanation. If there was a negative or sensitive reason, be careful with your words, but keep the conversation on the positive lines. Avoid speaking negatively of your ex-boss or ex-colleagues. Also explain how during the gaps you remained proactive by taking up a hobby, or took up courses or programs to work on your skills.

How do you gel and work with teams?

It doesn't matter whether you are an introvert or a socializing person, but at every workplace, it is required of you to be able to coherently connect with your colleagues or teammates for the sake of getting a task done. Explain how you have your focus on getting the job done, while keeping aside other unnecessary and personal opinions and differences. And then how you work at knowing the other’s divisions of work so you are in the loop, even if you don’t have much to do with that.

How did you deal with a situation when you had to work with someone difficult?

In every workplace, there are invariably situations that arises conflicts and difference of opinions. Before you answer this question, that if you let emotions take the better of you, you might end up speaking negative about someone, which you conveniently want to avoid. Recall a situation when you managed to keep things smooth with the person and then answer with diplomacy and maturity, which shows your sense of professionalism.

How do you manage to work effectively when under pressure?

This question is posed to know how efficiently you can work in a demanding situation. The simplest way is to give an instance where you managed to get things done on time, with quality. Describe a situation where things called you to be firm, what actions you took to get the task going well, and how it all ended well. Never bring up instances that ended bad for you or your ex-workplace. You can even mention some other techniques you resort to, like hitting the gym, art of prioritizing, scheduling your work, etc.

How do you prioritize when you have to work on multiple projects?

You can mention some of your tried-and-tested techniques that usually help you meet the need of all of your assigned tasks. Techniques like: collecting a list of all tasks at hand, identify what is urgent and what is important, gauge the value of the tasks an decide what goes first, estimate the efforts and time required for each task, and of course be flexible for rescheduling, when need be.

How did you handle meeting a tight deadline?

Skills of prioritizing, organization, and giving up unnecessary breaks and chit-chat is some of the things that you can mention you would do. You could also explain that you would structure yourself well enough by breaking up each task and establish minor deadlines and check them off your list so you can keep yourself motivated till the completion of the task. Again, give an example of how you have done this in the past and the positive results that turned out.

What do you do when your schedule is interrupted?

You can start by saying how you study the patterns of regular interruptions so you are not caught off guard when something comes up. Planning in advance and how you do it is important to point out in your answer. You should show your willingness to reschedule based on the tasks and their needs and always be open and make room for uncertainties.

How did you handle a task when you didn’t know much about?

This question is asked to help understand how you approach tasks or situations that you know very little about. Nobody gets in knowing everything and nobody gets out the same way either. Give example of how you were able to have a learning spirit and humility to ask a fellow employee about things you didn’t know, especially when a task you undertook was not approved because of poor research done.

Have you been in a situation where you didn't have enough work to do?

Admit honestly that such a situation can be difficult to stay motivated. But there are some work-enhancing hobbies that you would take up and can mention them to your interviewers. The simplest and most effective is the visiting the archives and checking old projects and tasks done. Studying them can help you understand the persona of the organization better and also make pointers on what can be changed or improved or can be aligned with the trending techniques. You can also tell them that you use time constructively by reading up online regarding your work and build your skills to make yourself more efficient.

What do you do if you disagree with your boss?

This could be one of the hardest questions to answer, because how you respond to it can reflect hoe you will relate with your to-be boss or supervisor. Your attitude towards authority and leadership is examined. Do not speak ill of your ex-boss. Show instances where you developed a sense of humility even when it appeared that your boss was wrong. But also mention that your focus was on the work being done effectively, and that negative feedback or accusations of inefficiency were taken in a constructive manner. This shows you were mature enough and didn’t let yourself blow your top.

A top HR consultancy in Bengaluru, Shiras HR Advisory and Services offers some of the best tips like these, to candidates and job-seekers, to help them be prepared to such questions and train them to answer with diplomacy and confidence. It is no doubt that they even guide them throughout the recruitment process to make the interview a success.